The Down county hurling team represents Down GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association, in the Gaelic sport of hurling. The team competes in the Joe McDonagh Cup and the National Hurling League.
Down's home ground is Páirc Esler, Newry. The team's manager is Ronan Sheehan (dual player).
The team last won the Ulster Senior Championship in 1997, but has never won the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League.
History Down played in the Leinster Minor Hurling Championship for three years in the 1970s, even playing Antrim in an unusual Leinster semi-final at Croke Park in 1979.
Although Down had not won the All-Ireland B championship in four final appearances, when the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship was revived, Down won titles in 1992, 1995 and 1997, losing the All-Ireland semi-finals by 14, 11 and 16 points.
Down defeated Kilkenny in a Division 1 match in 1993 by a scoreline of 1–12 to 1–11.
Down hurlers won the Christy Ring Cup for the first time in 2013, their greatest All-Ireland level success to date. This entitled them to enter the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship; however, Down opted to remain in the 2nd on this occasion.
In 2020, Down caused an upset in the Christy Ring Cup by knocking Offaly out in the semi-final. The team did so in a first ever inter-county hurling penalty shootout. The final against Kildare was scheduled for the one hundredth anniversary of Bloody Sunday, with promotion to the 2021 Joe McDonagh Cup achieved by both finalists.
South Down In 2007, the GAA announced that a hurling team from "South Down" (i.e. excluding the Ards peninsula) would compete in parallel to the main Down team, to encourage hurling in an area of growing population where the game had not been strong. While players from all of Down were eligible for the main Down team, Ards players could not play for South Down. The new team competed in the 2008 National Hurling League, recording their first win by beating Cavan at Ballela, scoring 4–15 to Cavan's 0–9. South Down then competed in the 2008 Nicky Rackard Cup and in the Lory Meagher Cup until 2011.
Managerial history 2009: Jim McKernanMcKernan welcomes 'Magic's' return , May 11, 2009
Players Notable players
Awards All Stars: Down has 1 All Star. 1992: Gerard McGrattan Champion 15:
Down has 29, as of 2024. 17 different players have won, as of 2024. 2005: Gareth Johnson, Martin Coulter 2007: Graham Clarke 2009: Fintan Conway, Sean Ennis, Ruairi McGrattan 2010: Paul Braniff 2011: Paul Braniff2nd 2012: Paul Braniff3rd 2013: Paul Braniff4th, Gareth Johnson2nd, Conor Woods, Patrick Hughes 2014: Conor Woods2nd 2015: Danny Toner, Fintan Conway2nd 2016: John McManus, Caolan Taggart 2017: Michael Hughes, Eoghan Sands 2018: Daithí Sands 2019: Caolan Taggart2nd, Daithí Sands2nd 2020: Stephen Keith, Caolan Taggart3rd 2021: Stephen Keith2nd, Conor Woods3rd 2023: Pearse Óg McCrickard 2024: Daithí Sands3rd Ulster GAA President’s Awards Hurler of the Year: 2025: Matthew Conlan (hurler)
Honours Official honours, with additions noted.
National All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Semi-finalists (2): 1992, 1995 Quarter-finalists (1): 1997 All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championship/Joe McDonagh Cup Runners-up (6): 1988 All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling Championship/Christy Ring Cup Winners (1): 2013 Runners-up (4): 2005, 2009, 2019, 2020 All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship/Nicky Rackard Cup Winners (1): 1964 Runners-up (1): 2004 National Hurling League Division 2 Winners (2): 2004, 2025 National Hurling League Division 2B Winners (1): 2020
Provincial Ulster Senior Hurling Championship Winners (4): 1941, 1992, 1995, 1997 Runners-up (19): 1930, 1939, 1940, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2015 Ulster Intermediate Hurling Championship Winners (4): 1968, 1971, 1972, 1998 Ulster Junior Hurling Championship Winners (7): 1956, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1967, 1992, 1993 Ulster Under-21 Hurling Championship Winners (11): 1969, 1971, 1975, 1977, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1990, 2003, 2004 Ulster Minor Hurling Championship Winners (13): 1930, 1932, 1934, 1957, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1978, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1994, 2012 Conor McGurk Cup Winners (2): 2019, 2022 Runners-up (3): 2018, 2020, 2021
References